


The Enchanted Forest Hotel

by cheshire6845



Series: Thank God for the Sinners [1]
Category: Hotel Artemis (2018), Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Assassins, F/F, Gen, Hotel Artemis - Freeform, OUAT family tree shenanigans, Swan Queen - Freeform, a dash of MadArcher, bad language, no magic, slightly crack fic, the fic where everyone dies, thieves, well almost everyone dies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-05
Updated: 2018-07-15
Packaged: 2019-06-05 18:10:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 17,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15176411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cheshire6845/pseuds/cheshire6845
Summary: The EF Hotel is a secret hospital for criminals, and it's a busy night.Major plot points are based on the movie Hotel Artemis with lots of OUAT stuff woven in.





	1. Prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I went and saw the movie Hotel Artemis and immediately began thinking of ways I could do it OUAT style. So, here it is. It felt slightly crack-ish at times while writing this. It was a fun project. Yes, major characters are going to die in this; I mean, it kind of turns into a blood bath massacre kind of deal. So you have been warned. With that being said, I hope you can enjoy it for what it is.

The Enchanted Forest Hotel was built in 1984 at the end of the Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada - America’s Playground. At the time of its opening, it was like any other hotel/casino on the strip. It’s neon sign welcomed patrons to its roulette tables and slot machines. By the turn of the century, the casino was shut down and the front doors were closed.

But the neon sign remained as a beacon of light on an otherwise darkened building at the end of a street being taken over by bigger and better hotels and casinos. The lights of the Strip moved further and further away. The Enchanted Forest Hotel was never listed on tourist sites or hotel bookings. The tour buses did not include it on their loops, and yet the neon sign remained lit night after night.

The high rollers, cocktail waitresses, and tourists may never enter through its doors, but to those in the know, the Enchanted Forest Hotel was a Las Vegas icon. An icon that required a yearly membership fee and members that never really wanted to find themselves staying there. On any given night, it would only allow six guests, first come first served.

The Enchanted Forest Hotel was actually a secret hospital – for criminals.

 

The Enchanted Forest Hotel

Rules of Membership

  1. While on the premises, no fighting with or killing other patients.
  2. No disrespectful words or actions allowed against Hotel staff.
  3. No guns or any type of weapon permitted through the gate.
  4. Membership must be paid for, full and in advance.
  5. Prior but lapsed members will not be admitted.
  6. No photography or video allowed.
  7. No outside food or drink.
  8. Absolutely no visitors.
  9. If a member is found to have compromised, or led to compromise of location, membership will be revoked.
  10. Hotel rules are final and non-negotiable.




	2. The Savior

Year 2028

Emma Swan was having the most fucked up day of her life – and that was really saying something. At the moment, she was crouched in an alley, tucked behind the side of a smelly dumpster, more likely than not her boots were in a puddle of piss, and she was being shot at by the Las Vegas Police. She was a professional damn it, but her idiot fucking brother was not, and the crew he hired definitely weren’t.

It was supposed to have been a simple bank heist. She was supposed to have been out of the game entirely, but she didn’t trust her brother not to screw this up. So, she’d agreed to do one last job with him. One last job and she could get the fuck out of the desert. But her brother had to go and hire a guy that could laser cut through any vault known to man – except that he couldn’t. Instead of robbing a vault, they’d ended up robbing the people that had been in the lobby waiting to deposit items in the vault. Not exactly the last score she would have wanted on her resume, but any job you could walk away from.

Then someone had tripped the fucking alarm. The fucking alarm that had called the police; the police that her brother’s dumb ass had fired a gun at. The police that shot back.

And the police's aim had been much better than her brother’s.

Her red leather jacket was ruined. Three bullets to the back while pulling his bleeding body to safety were going to leave holes she couldn’t fix. Thankfully, the Kevlar lining in the jacket kept her from joining the unlucky son-of-a-bitch her brother had hired to stand guard on their perimeter. The fiery pain in her ass cheek meant that one bullet went a bit lower though and her jeans were now ruined as well.

“God damn it!” she hissed, ignoring his mumbled apologies.

“What the fuck are we going to do?” The guy that couldn’t open a safe yelled from across the alley in his own piss covered hiding spot. He had a hand clutched against the side of his neck and Emma couldn’t tell if all the blood on his shoulder was from one wound or two. She couldn’t quite manage to care either.

She pulled out her wallet and the metal card in it that had the letters HLS written across it. At the time she’d purchased the card, she’d hoped to never use it. The card had cost a small fortune, but she’d also known if she ever needed it, it meant the shit storm that was her life had spiraled completely out of control. She took one second to think if there was any other way…there wasn’t.

She held the card in one hand and dialed a number on her cell phone with the other.

“Hello,” a tired voice answered. “How can I help?”

“I need a room. Two members, possibly three.”

“You’re in luck. I’ve got three rooms left.”

“We’ll be there in fifteen.” She hung up, pocketed the phone, and adjusted the strap of the duffel bag hanging across her body.

She looked at the card for one last second before snapping it in half. She pressed the two halves together, felt them begin to warm between her palms, held it for another beat, then quickly tossed the card at the feet of the police.

“What the fuck was that?”

She glared at the guy across the alley, slapped her brother awake enough to drag his arm across her shoulders and gathered her legs under herself, bracing. The explosion slammed idiot boy to the ground but she used the momentum to lurch to her feet with her brother dragging at her side. She moved as fast as she could past the stunned cops and the resulting debris of the alleyway. Her ass cheek throbbed in pain. “God damn it, Neal!”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

They went in through the side door, another alley that smelled of vomit and piss marking their way. The safe guy hadn’t stopped bitching and Neal was barely conscious, his weight growing heavier by the second. Emma felt the elevator slowly move its way up to the top floor of the old building; she willed it to go faster but thought that it perhaps had slowed even more.

When the elevator finally shuddered to a halt, the doors slowly opened and Emma saw the all too familiar locked gate looming before her. The small woman with a dark pixie cut standing just beyond it smiled and shook her head at the sight of Emma. At the rueful greeting, Emma felt the first smidgen of hope that her life wasn’t a complete shitshow. Then the guy who can’t open a safe bumped into her in his hurry to get off the fucking elevator.

“Motherfucker!” she growled almost losing her grip on Neal.

He barely looked at her as he banged on the closed gate. “Come on, lady, open up! We’re fucking bleeding here!”

“Easy fella! I’ll get you fixed up,” the pixie haired woman said then gestured at the glowing scanner on the wall. “Verify your memberships and we’re off to the races.”

Emma slammed her wrist against the scanner; it buzzed approved. She hoped like hell that for once in his fucking life Neal had listened to her and kept his membership updated as she held his wrist up to the scanner; it buzzed approved. The pixie woman nodded at her and then they both looked at the guy bleeding from his neck. He shuffled backwards under their gaze then held his wrist up to be scanned. The scanner buzzed rejected.

“What the fuck?”

The pixie woman pulled out a pad and checked a reference. “Sorry, pal. You let your membership lapse. You two,” she gestured towards Emma, “come on through.”

“Hey! No! Wait, come on!!” the guy said as Emma dragged Neal through the barely opened gate. “I’ll pay, I swear. Just fix me up.”

“Nope, sorry,” the pixie woman said, helping Emma get Neal onto the gurney. “We’ve got rules here. Go back down the way you came in. I suggest you go to a hospital.”

When he tried to force his way through the gate, Emma shoved him backwards with a kick to the chest. “You heard the Doc! Get lost!” She slammed the gate the rest of the way closed. “Worthless piece of shit.”

“Fuck you!”

The pixie haired doctor grabbed at the radio mike on her shoulder, keying it on. “Charming, I need a garbage disposal at the front gate.”

A male voice answered back. “Will do.”

Emma and the doctor pushed the gurney into one of the six makeshift operating rooms. Emma limped backwards to give the pixie haired woman room to work. She slipped the duffel bag off over her shoulder, dropping it on the floor. “Is he going to make it?”

The diagnostic bed was blaring multiple warnings across the main screen. Two different robotic arms set to work on repairing the damage to his body, one administered a painkiller while the other pulled out the first bullet. Neal yelled and Emma flinched. “Doc, is he going to live?”

The pixie haired doctor was studying the readouts with her back to Emma. Her fingers flew across the controls, operating the robotics and programming the nanites to repair the damage. She hummed as she worked. Neal grunted in pain as a second slug was pulled from beneath his ribs.

Emma didn’t like raising her voice to the doctor, it tread dangerously close to breaking one of the house rules, but she also didn’t like being ignored. “Snow!”

The doctor jumped slightly and turned, “What?” Emma gestured at her brother. “Oh!” Snow frowned and shook her head. “There’s a lot of damage. Most can be easily taken care of but his liver is completely decimated.” Her fingers typed in another command on the interface. “We’ll have to build him a new one and hope it takes.”

Emma sagged under the news. It wasn’t the worst she’d ever received, but it wasn’t good. It also wasn’t the doctor’s fault they were in this mess. “Thanks, Snow.”

She shrugged, pocketed the pad she was working on and picked up a pair of forceps. “Now, you want me to dig that slug out of your ass?”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The bullet plinked into the pan and Emma grunted as Snow slapped a healing patch onto her right ass cheek.

“I thought you were done with of all this,” Snow remarked casually. No one admitted to knowing anyone while staying in the Enchanted Forest, but due to a long recovery one time, Emma had unfortunately spent more time as a guest of the hotel than most.

“I got out,” Emma said as she worked on pulling her pants back up to where they should be. It wasn’t easy getting the skin-tight material over the patch. “But you know how it goes.”

Snow shook her head as she took off her bloodied gloves. “You were never out.” She tapped one finger against her temple. “Not up here.” 

“I wanted to be,” Emma muttered.

“You never even let your membership lapse.” Snow pointed out before wrapping a band around Emma’s arm and dialing up the control on it to administer the nanites into the blonde’s bloodstream. Emma grunted at the infusion and looked down at the label on the armband.

“You never made me be the Savior before.”

Snow shrugged and walked over to check on Neal. She wrapped a band around his wrist labeled “Prince” then turned towards one of her machines. “We can make him a new liver, but there’s no telling if it’ll take or not. Toxic tissues aren’t the best for regeneration.”

Emma moved closer to her brother. Thankfully, he’d passed out soon after the second slug was removed. “Toxic tissues?”

Snow looked over her shoulder at the blonde. “There’s marks between his fingers. I don’t think he’s been shooting up vitamins.”

Emma examined the hand she was holding and saw the punctures the doctor was talking about. “Damn it, Neal.”

“This is going to take a few hours,” Snow said gently. “Why don’t you go to the common area, watch some tv, get a coffee.” She tucked her pad away and picked up her medical bag. “I’ve got to go check on the Queen.”


	3. The Other Guests

The Queen had checked into the hotel less than an hour before the Savior and the Prince. She'd had a bullet wound to her upper arm; Snow had already removed the bullet but wanted to check on the healing patch. She was headed to the room assigned to the Queen when she found her unexpectedly sitting on one of the benches in the hallway.

The Queen’s dark eyes looked up at her with a slight arch of her eyebrow as Snow came to an abrupt halt at the sight of her. She held a black unlit cigarette between two fingers. “The tv is out in my room.”

“Charming isn’t so great at fixing the cable,” Snow said by way of explanation. She sat down next to the woman and pulled a scanner out of her bag. “You know those things will kill you.”

The Queen looked down at the cigarette. “They can wait their turn behind everyone else.”

Snow prodded the mostly healed wound. “You picked a good spot. No major muscle damage, nowhere near the artery.”

The Queen turned her head slowly to gaze at the pixie haired woman beside her. “I’m a professional. I get paid to know exactly where a bullet should go.”

“Angle of the gun, distance between the gun and skin, all perfectly calculated,” Snow admired. “Takes a lot of guts to self-inflict.”

“You don’t know what it takes,” the Queen growled. Her eyes narrowed. “Since when are you so talkative?”

“It’s been a busy night, too much caffeine,” Snow offered as an explanation.

“I saw the blonde come in,” the Queen admitted with a quick glance towards the security monitor screen hanging above their heads. “Is she going to make it?”

Snow tried not to let her surprise show. It was rare for any guest of the Forest to show concern about another guest, let alone actually ask after them. She debated on how much she should tell the Queen. She settled on a version of the truth. “She’s a survivor.”

The Queen did not seem impressed with her answer. “Was she hurt?”

“She’s here, isn’t she?”

Dark eyes surrounded by perfect makeup, despite the evening’s firearm related activities, glared at Snow. “Will she live?”

Snow huffed a sigh then answered, “ _She_ will; I’m not so sure about-”

“ _Him_ I don’t care about.” The Queen cut her off then looked down at her bandaged arm. “Are we done here?”

“I don’t know. Are we, your highness?”

The Queen stood up, the cigarette between her fingers almost forgotten. She looked down at Snow then said, “Maybe I just wanted to come see you.”

“You don’t have to get shot to do that.”

The Queen considered her, then looked away. “I need a night off.”

“The Forest is a good place to hide,” Snow said knowingly. It was lucky there’d been a room available. “The common room has a working tv. I watch Jeopardy in there on slow afternoons.”

“The common room is way too crowded.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

As the adrenalin of the past few hours drained away, Emma’s ass hurt more and her energy plummeted. She needed coffee. Unfortunately, the common room where the one coffee maker in the hotel was kept was crowded. As soon as she heard the voices, she paused outside the door, wondering if she needed the coffee badly enough to venture inside.

“I tell you, you’ve got a nice ass, and you tell me to go fuck myself?”

“Did I stutter?”

Emma leaned back against the wall. The male’s voice had a distinct Irish accent with a healthy dose of assumed superiority. The woman’s voice, oddly enough, also had an accent although hers was British. The superiority that bled through her tone was confident, less assumed and more simply known fact.

“Come on, love, there’s no reason to be rude. The two of us…we could pass the time here together in several enjoyable ways.”

A cackle of laughter fell out of the room. “Why in the world would I want to fuck you? You’re a one-handed arms dealer with an inferiority complex.”

“Don’t do that,” he said, his voice going darker as the humor he’d tried for slipped away.

Emma chanced taking a glance inside the room. The coffee maker was on the counter just inside the door and appeared to be full. She could make it. She checked that the other two occupants of the room were still fully involved with each other, confirmed that she did indeed know the woman, and stepped silently towards the counter.

“Do what?” the woman sneered. “Point out that it’s obvious you sell big guns to compensate for-” she looked pointedly down at his crotch, “other shortcomings.”

Emma wanted to laugh, truly she did, but she wanted to not be noticed even more. As she quietly picked up a mug from the rack, the man with dark hair, silver jewelry, and entirely too much black leather in his wardrobe stepped dangerously closer to the woman. It was an ignorant move by someone who clearly didn’t know who they were dealing with.

“Oh, love, you have no idea how deadly small packages can be in my line of work,” he said, flipping a playing card out from his vest pocket and running it over his knuckles. “And I’d happily show you the equipment I’m working with-”

Ping!

Emma cursed silently as she stood momentarily frozen in the act of pouring her cup of coffee when the machine sounded its concern that the pot had been removed from its station. She felt the attention of the ridiculous duo fall on her and she finished pouring her coffee. Might as well get the caffeine she came for. She put the pot back on the hot plate, hearing it ping again, then turned towards her audience.

“Glad I wasn’t trying to be discrete,” she said, saluting them with her mug. The woman smirked at her but the guy just glared. She looked them over. The guy had healing scratches on his face and neck and his arm, minus a hand, in a sling. Snow must have been feeling saucy when she gave him the name “Pirate” for the evening. The woman, tall with long waves of red hair didn’t have any visible injuries, but a few stains on an otherwise immaculate dress with a split all the way up to her hip on both sides suggested she wasn’t just here for the company. Emma squinted at her name band. “Nice to see you again, Witch.”

“Wish I could say the same, Savior,” she replied. “You look like shit.”

Emma shrugged and sipped the horrible coffee. “I’ve had better days.”

“I’m fucking sorry to hear that, love,” the Pirate snapped, “but you got your coffee, feel free to fucking leave.”

Emma resisted the urge to laugh in his face as she took a few steps closer to the pair. She slugged back some more of the coffee. With a nod towards the Pirate, she asked the Witch, “What’s his story?”

The Witch snorted. “Thinks he’s God’s gift or some shit.”

“Excuse me, but what is this?” He gestured with his good hand between the two of them. “You two know each other? Want to tickle each other’s fancy?” He grinned at them. “I’d pay good money to watch that.”

“Good Lord,” the Witch muttered with an eyeroll to match, looking away from the man before she broke any of the hotel’s rules.

Emma set her empty mug on an end table and dropped her hand on the Pirate’s shoulder. “There’s no way you have enough money for a show like that, Pirate.”

“You don’t know me,” he sneered and knocked her hand off his shoulder. “Ever hear of Hook, Line, and Sinker, baby? I own it.” He shifted his shoulders like a proud peacock. “The weapons I sell are probably the reason you’re in this shithole hotel.”

Emma exchanged a glance with the Witch; if that was true, she’d used his products more than once. He was probably the reason she was still alive to be having such a shitty night. Not that she’d ever tell him any of that.

Taking their silence as acceptance of his suitability, he pushed his luck. And Emma. “Now that you’ve had your coffee, why don’t you skip the fuck along?” He gestured towards the red-head. “The Witch and I were having a conversation, and she doesn’t need your protection.”

This time Emma did laugh in his face. She fell against him, patting his chest she was laughing so hard. The Witch smirked at her antics. “You think… _she_ needs protection?” She wiped under her eyes with her thumb as she stepped back. “You and I, we may be professionals, but her,” Emma eyed her appreciatively. “She’s the business.”

The Pirate's eyes narrowed. “What the fuck does that even mean?”

With the grace of a dancer, the Witch smashed Emma’s empty coffee mug, scooped up a shard of porcelain and threw it at the Pirate’s head. The makeshift weapon breezed past his hair and embedded in the wall behind him.

“It means, you’re lucky this place has rules,” the Witch said, “or you’d already be dead.”


	4. The Prince

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all the love this has been getting! I hope it continues to entertain you.

Emma made her way back to her room, passing Charming going in the opposite direction muttering something about the power grid. With everything that had happened, she'd almost forgotten what night it was. She felt a little bad for the orderly slash maintenance man. This was never a good night for the city.

Once she closed the door to the room behind her, she pulled out the wallet she’d lifted from the asshole pirate’s jacket pocket. She immediately stuffed the cash, close to a thousand bucks, in her hip pocket. She glanced at his ID card; his real name was Killian Jones. “God, he really is a pirate,” she muttered. She pulled out two black credit cards, rolled her eyes and dumped them in the trash can, and an Ace of Spades playing card. Dropping the rest of the wallet into the trash, she flipped the playing card over in her hand, inspecting it. It was thicker than a regular playing card and definitely a different material. It didn't have any markings on it but she was pretty sure she knew what it was.  

“What you got there?”

The groggy voice had her looking up to find Neal, barely lifting his head up from the table. She held up the card for him to see it. “Not entirely sure.” She slid it into her back pocket, flinching slightly at the tenderness she’d almost forgotten about. “How you feeling?”

“Like I got shot,” he muttered, dropping his head back down. “Brand damn new suit.”

Emma moved closer to him. Typical Neal, trying to ease the tension with jokes. “We can get you a new one.”

He looked up at her, seemed to really see her, the blood on her clothes, the fatigue settling in her features. “You okay?”

“Yeah, sure.” She nodded.

He considered her answer. “Am I okay?”

She hesitated. “Don’t know yet.” She looked away from him, glaring at the ceiling, willing the surge of hate she had for him under control before she spoke. “You told me you quit, Neal; you swore you were off the snow.”

“I am,” he insisted weakly.

“Don’t fucking lie to me, Neal!”

“I was!” he tried again, changing his tune. “I swear; I was clean.”

“For how long, Neal?” she challenged. “A day? An hour?”

It was his turn to look away; he couldn’t hold her eye when he answered, “A week.”

“A week,” she repeated. “A fucking week.” She stared at him, then barked out a harsh laugh. "I bet it wasn't even a week, probably more like a few days, right?"

He didn't bother denying it. “I wasn’t lying to you when I asked you to do this job! I swear, I was clean when I asked you.”

“You were never clean, Neal! A few days is not clean. A few days is you fucking ran out of money and couldn’t re-up.” And it hit her like a ton of bricks. “Oh, my God. That’s what this was all about, wasn’t it? You owe your fucking dealer, don’t you?” When he didn’t answer, she slammed her hands against the medical bed. “Don’t you?!”

“Yes,” he admitted.

“Fuck!” She spun away from the bed. She wanted to hit something, knock over some medical trays, destroy something, anything. She settled for dragging her hands roughly through her hair, tearing some of it out in the process. “FUCK!”

“Emma,” he pleaded, his hand flailing towards her. “Emma, please don’t-”

“Don’t what?” she spun back around. “Don’t what, Neal? Fuck you over? Like you did me with this whole fucked up grand plan?” She was so mad she couldn’t see straight. The betrayal hit her hard in the gut and her hands clenched the bed rail until her knuckles were white. When she finally felt like she could breathe again, she said quietly, “I was out, Neal.” She looked at him, his pale face and wide scared eyes. The eyes of a boy who refused to grow up. “And you dragged me back in. For this.” She shook her head and straightened.  

“I’m sorry.”

It was a child’s response, and she huffed out a humorless laugh. “I need to get some air.”

“Wait! Wait, Emma, please,” he said desperately, lurching upwards onto his elbow. “I was wrong to involve you. I shouldn’t have, but I just didn’t think I could do it without you. And I needed to…”

“Because you needed the money to pay off your drugs that you lied to me about.”

He swallowed thickly and nodded. “Yeah, but,” he reached into his pocket, wincing at the movement and almost eliciting a bit of empathy from her, “I think I got something.” He pulled a fat pen out of his pocket and gestured for her to take it. “I took this off a guy in the bank, a secret service wannabe looking dude.”

Emma took it from him and noticed the way sweat had broken out across his forehead as he dropped back down to the bed.

“I think it might be one of those portable vaults,” he said. “Might really be worth something.”

Snow chose that moment to sweep back into the room, punching codes into her pad as she walked. “Sorry,” she said, pushing past Emma, “I stayed outside the door as long as I could, but his readings are just getting too high.” She adjusted his medication. “He needs to rest,” she said pointedly to Emma, then glared at Neal, “and not move around or sit up.”

“Sorry.” Emma pocketed the pen without looking at it. She watched for a minute as Neal’s face relaxed back into unconsciousness. “How much did you hear?”

Snow shrugged. “Enough.”

Emma rolled her eyes at the non-answer. “I’m going to step out. I need to…walk or something.”

She was almost to the door when Snow casually mentioned, “The Queen asked about you; I think she’s in her room.”


	5. The Queen

Emma stopped in front of the door that had a small crown embedded on it. She ran a hand through her hair and knocked. There was no welcoming answer but the lock did click and she carefully pushed the door open.

The Queen sat on one of the two unmatched plush armchairs. Dark eyes looked up from under equally dark lashes and silently watched Emma walk into the room.

“Hi,” Emma said, shoving her hands into her back pockets and wincing as she was immediately reminded of her tender ass.

Amusement flitted into the Queen’s dark eyes and she arched an eyebrow.

Emma turned slightly so the older woman could see the holy, blood-stained jeans. She twisted to look down and see the damage for herself. The Queen tsked, "Now that is a fucking shame." She gestured towards the upholstered chair opposite her. “Have a seat.” At Emma’s flinch, she shrugged. “Or stand, whatever suits you.”

“I’ll sit,” Emma said, taking the seat gingerly, settling her weight on her left side first, “just have to do so carefully.”

The Queen poured them both a drink and pushed one of the glasses closer towards Emma. They drank in silence; Emma noticed the bandage wrapped around the brunette’s arm and wondered but didn’t bother asking what happened. The hotel had rules you didn't break, and they had lines between them that they didn't cross. 

“You told me you were getting out,” the Queen said quietly, cradling her glass like it was a rare scotch instead of a bottle from Snow’s stash of corner store booze.

“I was.” How many people had she told? Had she hung a neon sign around her neck? “And I did. Sort of.”

“You could have come with me, but you didn’t because you said you were getting out.” Her chin angled up and a coldness entered her dark eyes. “This is because of _him_ , isn’t it?”

Emma heard the sneer in the older woman’s voice. The Queen had never liked Emma’s brother. The consummate professional disgusted by an amateur’s laziness. She couldn’t even argue the fact and instead chose to throw back the remainder of her drink.

“He’s going to get you killed.”

“Maybe he already has,” Emma said, sitting the empty glass down next to a silver cigarette case. A tree with wide branches filling a circle was engraved on the case. “What about you?”

“What about me?” she asked, the hint of concern replaced by the professional.

“I thought you only took international jobs.”

“I only take important jobs.”

Emma glanced around the room wondering how a job in Las Vegas could be important enough for the Queen. But again, it wasn’t her business and she was edging dangerously close to one of those lines. So many fucking lines between them. With a sigh, she leaned back in the chair only to wince and remember the pen she had crammed into her pocket. She rolled up on her good hip and pulled it out, dropping it carelessly on the end table next to the liquor.

“What is that?” the Queen asked, the old springs of the chair squeaking as she shifted her weight forward.

Emma was sitting back, eyes closed, missing the brunette’s sudden interest. “Something Ne…the Prince took off one of the customers at the bank today,” she said tiredly. “He thinks it’s a mini vault of some kind.”

“No, Savior,” the Queen snapped, making the blonde open her eyes. She pointed at a small emblem on the side of the pen. “What the fuck is that?”

Emma sat up, picked up the pen and looked at a small gold and black spiraling circle. She rubbed her thumb over it, cleaning off a bit of blood, and swallowed thickly. “Is that what I think it is?”

“The Dark One’s symbol?” the Queen snatched the pen from her hands, rolling it between her fingers, feeling the coded middle joint. “Yes, it is.”

Emma could feel the blood draining from her face as it pooled in her stomach making her want to vomit. “Are you telling me, that my brother _stole_ from the fucking Dark One?”

The Queen ignored her; they both knew the answer to the question already. The only thing worth knowing now was what exactly had been stolen. She twisted the ring on her right hand and held it next to the pen.

“You’re never going to get that open,” Emma said, knowing her ring wasn’t just a piece of jewelry. “It’s encrypted at-”

The mini-vault clicked open, the barrel raised up to reveal six perfectly cut stones neatly stored within it. Emma stared at it; she was definitely going to be sick. “Are those-?”

“Diamonds,” the Queen said, rattling the stones slightly. “Yes. Worth about eighteen million dollars.”

Emma swallowed down the bile that was rising quickly in her throat. “The Dark One is probably going to want those back.”

The Queen slammed the pen closed and thrust it at her. “You need to leave right fucking now.”


	6. The Son

Emma was spinning. The sands beneath her feet were shifting too quickly and she was sinking up past her elbows at this point. They hadn’t robbed the bank; they’d robbed people. They’d unknowingly robbed from the biggest crime lord in the Western half of the United States. They’d had a shoot-out with the cops after their botched robbery; her brother had been shot. She’d set off a mini explosion with a weapon that was likely banned and only owned by criminals. All of which the news cycle would’ve reported on by now. And she’d taken her brother to the one place criminals could go to be medically treated without prying questions.

The one place that meant the Dark One would know exactly where they (and his diamonds) were.

“That’s against the rules.”

Emma heard Snow’s voice and froze. It wasn’t directed at her. Snow was talking to someone at the main gate of the hospital.

“We don’t allow visitors,” Snow said in a very calm if bored voice, “and you aren’t injured.”

“Fuck your rules!” the guy said, angrily slamming his palm against the gate. Emma crept closer, willing to give Snow some extra support if she needed it. “My father fucking owns this place!”

Emma could’ve sworn the pen grew hot against her palm. The voice belonged to Gideon Gold, the only acknowledged son of the Dark One. Emma’s willingness to help out Snow evaporated as she tried to think of how she was going to get Neal out of the damn building.

“And when your father arrives,” Snow said, “I’ll let him in. Until then, you and all your little friends are going to have to wait outside.”

Gideon sneered through the bars of the gate. “My father made you the doctor in this place. Without him, you’d still be in the gutter where he found you with a bottle clutched in your hand.”

That was a low blow even for a little fucktard like Gideon. Emma almost forgot her own sense of self-preservation over that comment and started to move towards Snow when she saw Charming striding towards them both from the opposite end of the hall. He shook his head at her, motioning her to stay out of sight as he joined Snow.

“Come on, fellas,” he said, “you know the rules.” Instead of addressing Gideon, he talked to the goon squad he had with him. “Why don’t you head back downstairs to wait for your boss before you find yourselves with your memberships revoked?”

Most of them grumbled, stealing looks between Gideon, whom they didn’t like, and Charming, who they at minimal respected in the context of the Enchanted Forest. Someone hit the button for the elevator and it dinged almost immediately.

Gideon knew he’d soon be standing alone. He pointed at Snow. “You’d better be ready; he’ll be here shortly.”

Snow nodded unnecessarily and watched in silence as the little foyer area once again became empty. She leaned back against Charming’s chest and exhaled.

“What was that about?” he asked.

“Busy night at the Forest,” she said.

“Is the Dark One really coming here?”

“Sounds like it.” She straightened, picked up her medical bag and headed towards the common room. She stopped when she saw Emma standing so close by. “Savior?”

Emma looked up to find two concerned expressions regarding her carefully. She cleared her throat. “Can my brother be moved?”

Snow’s dark brows scrunched together. “Moved where?”

“Anywhere but here.”

Snow shook her head. “He doesn’t have much of a chance as it is, but if you move him that chance becomes zero.” She grasped Emma’s upper arm. “The Enchanted Forest is a neutral zone, Savior. It’s why we have rules. He’ll be safe here.”

All the lights in the hotel dimmed, sputtered and then went out, an ominous sign if ever there was one. The emergency lighting kicked on leaving them all in a slow-blinking red haze. Both women looked at Charming.

“The energy company is conducting its bi-annual shutdown tonight; the brownouts are a warning,” he said as the lights kicked back on. “I’ll check the generators. It shouldn’t have taken them that long to pick up.” He kissed Snow on the temple and headed down the corridor.

Emma looked towards Neal’s room, but Snow was still watching her. “What is it, Savior?”

She swallowed, wondering if Snow had any idea the shitstorm that was headed this way. “Why is the Dark One coming here?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “I guess he got injured.”

Emma shook her head. “The Dark One doesn’t get injured. He has a protection force of fifty guards.”

It was true, Snow thought. He’d established the place, stopped by regularly to see if she had everything she needed, including booze, but he’d never been a patient. “I guess we’ll see when he gets here.”

“That’s what I’m worried about.”


	7. The Doctor and The Diamonds

“Normally, I’d check up on the both of you privately, but we’re on the clock here,” Snow said, entering the common room, addressing both the Witch and the Pirate. “Who wants to go first?”

The pair were seated at opposite ends of the room, glaring at each other. The Witch waited until the Pirate started to push himself off the couch then moved fluidly to her feet. “Ladies first, bitch.”

“If there were any ladies here, that would make a difference,” he snapped but settled back onto the couch content to watch her ass as she crossed the room.

The Witch flipped him off as she walked past him. “What’s the rush, Doc?”

Snow held up the scanner as the Witch dropped the jacket she’d been wearing and pulled her mane of long hair to the side, revealing a bandage running down the back of her neck to inbetween her shoulder blades. “I’ve got another patient incoming. Not sure how bad.”

“That’ll make the Forest a full house.” She didn’t flinch as Snow peeled the bandage up to inspect the gash beneath it. The wound was ugly but superficial and in an area that didn’t present any problems.

“Yep,” Snow said, satisfied with how the wound was healing, she taped the bandage back down. “How’s the hip?”

“Bruised,” the Witch said. Reluctantly, she pulled the fabric of her dress back enough to show the dark purple coloring that was beginning to show. The small tread of a shoe was easily visible.

Snow would've expected a larger shoe print if she was honest, but she nodded that the Witch could cover it back up. Snow reached for the nanite dispenser on the Witch’s arm and tweaked the controls. “That should help.”

The Witch gave her a tight grin as she pulled her jacket back on. “You should see the other guy.”

“I’m guessing since he didn’t show up here for treatment, the only person seeing him will be the coroner,” Snow quipped back.

“Eventually.” The Witch winked and slinked back towards her corner of the common room.

“You know you should really buy some scented candles or something for this place,” the Pirate said as he sauntered over, “because it smells like someone died in here.”

“Someone did,” Snow said, recalibrating the scanner to his profile. “As long as the generators hold up, your hand should be fixed in another couple of hours. When your _attacker_ ,” Snow stumbled slightly over the word, “stomped on it, she really busted up some of the circuitry.”

“That bitch just better hope she’s left Vegas before I step out of this place,” he said, flinching as Snow ran the scanner near the scratches that ran down the side of his face. “Easy on the merchandise, love.”

Snow rolled her eyes as she finished up. “You’ll be fine in a few hours.”

“Hours?” He grabbed hold of Snow’s elbow as she packed up her equipment. “You wouldn’t be trying to delay me, would you, Doc?”

Snow looked pointedly down at the hand holding her arm. “You’ve already lost one hand, Pirate. You want to lose another?”

“I don’t think she patches up wounds she causes, Pirate,” the Witch drawled from across the room, tossing down the year-old magazine she’d been pretending to peruse. “And I’m quite sure Charming would happily throw you out with the rest of the trash.”

The Pirate glanced between the two women before releasing Snow and holding his hand up in surrender. He grinned at them. “Didn’t mean anything by it. Just anxious to leave.”

Snow offered him a fake smile. “And we’re anxious for you to be on your way…in a few hours.” She nodded at the Witch, slung her kit over her shoulder and left.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Emma closed the room door behind her and leaned back against it, taking a deep breath. She was pretty sure the diamonds were burning a hole in her pocket. And fuck all, she had fucking diamonds in her damn pocket.

“Hey, Ems,” Neal said, lifting his head to see her, “what’s going on?”

She blinked and focused on her brother. Foster brother if you wanted to get technical. It didn’t make her love him any less, but… She licked her lips and moved towards him. “The Enchanted Forest isn’t safe for us.” She reached a hand into her pocket and withdrew the mini-vault. She held it up so he could see it. “Because of this.”

He grinned, completely missing the point. “I was right, wasn’t I? It is worth something.” 

“Oh yeah, it’s worth something,” she bit out. 

“Well, what is it?”

She stood next to the bed and asked, “Did you know who it belonged to when you took it?”

He frowned, finally catching on that she wasn’t happy about the find. “What? No, I took it off some mall cop security guy.”

She studied his face and for once, she believed he was telling the truth. She couldn’t decide if it was better or worse that he had randomly taken it. She scrubbed a hand over her face. 

“Ems, what’s going on? What is it?”

“It’s a mini-vault,” she said, suddenly feeling incredibly tired with her life. “It’s got about eighteen million dollars’ worth of diamonds in it.” Neal whistled, his eyes lighting up like a kid at Christmas. Emma pressed on, “And it belongs to the Dark One.”

The joy in Neal’s boyish features didn’t immediately drain away, shifting into a look of confusion and then denial. “Yeah, right,” he scoffed then laughed at her. “Yeah, all right, fuck you, Ems for even saying that, you know.” She twisted the pen around so he could see the emblem embedded on the barrel. He blanched at the sight of the spiraling circle. “You gotta be shitting me!”

“These diamonds belong to the fucking Dark One,” Emma said, “and he’s on his way here.” 

“Wha-? No. No, no, no, no.”

“Yes, Neal. The Dark One, your fucking father, is on his way here right fucking now.”


	8. The Dark One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Going back to days at work so won't be posting until tomorrow evening. Here's a short chapter to tide you over. 
> 
> Thank you to everyone that has read/kudos/commented! It means a lot!

Snow wasn’t nervous at the prospect of seeing the Dark One. She had no reason to be. After she’d lost her mother to a random mugging gone wrong, she’d started drinking. The slope was slippery and it wasn’t all that long before she found herself in front of a medical review board, stripped of her license. The Dark One, a dumb nickname if she said so herself, found her shortly thereafter. He offered her the Enchanted Forest.

It was a roof over her head and the opportunity to continue practicing medicine. Her morals had her politely declining right up until she was kicked out of her penthouse and her car was repossessed. After that, she bought a bottle of booze at the corner store and walked into the Forest. She’d never left.

Robert Gold, aka the Dark One, enforced the rules she established, and she had her very own safe haven. He stopped by regularly to make sure she had everything she needed. Now, for the first time, he would be a patient. Her patient. She might have felt a trickle of sweat roll down her back.

She and Charming stood on one side of the gate and a squad of goons stood on the other. All of them watched as the elevator’s floor indicator slowly moved upwards. When the arrow slid into place, indicating the penthouse, the elevator doors slid open. Gideon stepped out first, carrying a woman in his arms as he strode forward. “Open the gate.”

Snow frowned when she realized who he was carrying. “Belle?”

Charming immediately dropped his crossed arms and moved forwards. “I’ll take her,” he said, hitting the control to slide the gate open.

“I’ve got her,” Gideon argued, attempting to step forward.

Charming blocked his path. “You’re armed. Give her to me.”

Gideon looked as though he was about to argue when the head of a cane tapped his shoulder, silencing him. “Do what the man says, son.”

With a gentleness reserved solely for Belle, Gideon transferred the unconscious woman to Charming. Snow rushed forward as her orderly laid the younger woman out on the gurney. She was extremely pale; Snow pulled back the blanket she was wrapped in to see a bloody shoulder. She looked up at Gold. “She’s lost a lot of blood.”

The security alarms went off as the Dark One strode through the gate. Charming straightened, prepared to enforce the hotel’s rules when the crime lord pulled a pistol out from inside his vest and handed it over to his son for safekeeping. “I suggest you work fast, Doctor.”

“Of course,” Snow said, nodding to Charming to close the gate behind Gold. She began pushing the gurney towards the last available room. “Gun shot?” Normally, she wouldn’t ask but given that it was Belle, quite possibly the gentlest woman she’d ever met, she wanted to make sure.

“Yes,” Gold clipped out, a step behind them as he leaned heavily on his cane. “A sniper.” He stayed at the side of the bed, out of the way but with clearly no intention of leaving. “The coward took out her two guards and then shot her, left her to die. She was there for thirty minutes before we found them.”

Charming and Snow exchanged a look. The tone of his voice moved remarkably between a venomous snake ready to attack and that of a truly regretful man concerned for the love of his life. Snow glanced over the readings and felt herself relax slightly. The younger woman had lost a lot of blood but the shot wasn’t meant to kill. “She’ll live.” Snow pushed a button to administer a high dose of painkiller. “Just need to do a bit of repair surgery.”

Gold exhaled and nodded. “Thank you, Doctor.”

“Are you injured?” Snow asked. She thought she knew the answer but needed to ask.

“No.” He ran a gentle hand over Belle’s forehead, brushing her hair back. “I know it’s against the rules, Doctor, but I’m staying.”

Snow had assumed as much. “Well, where would I be without a few rule breakers?”


	9. Rendezvouses and Revelations

Despite what Snow said, Emma had no intention of leaving her brother in the same building as his estranged father for any longer than she had to. She’d forced herself to leave the relative safety of their room and venture out. Passing the gated foyer, she’d moved as casually as possible. Gideon had looked up as she passed but the other three henchmen didn’t even bother. Then she’d had to pass the room where she knew Snow had taken the Dark One. That had been another breath-holding moment, especially when she was only a few feet past it and she heard the door open behind her. She kept walking and caught the muddled reflection of Charming heading the opposite direction. After that she’d found the secret corridor.

More than one time during her stays at the hotel, she’d seen Charming vanish rather mysteriously down a hall with no exit. Once she’d actually tried, it had taken her no time at all to find the secret switch which opened the wall to a concealed passage. She’d quickly slipped into its shadows and followed it to the dilapidated freight elevator. She’d taken it down to the bottom floor and a darkened exit. Unfortunately, the exit led straight into the alley where an entourage of cars for the Dark One were parked. As she made her way back to the main corridor, she considered her options. She’d tried down; she might as well try up.

Luckily, the stairs to the roof weren’t so secret and she quickly made her way up them. She’d never been up to the roof, but it was bathed in the glow of the giant neon sign proclaiming - The Enchanted Forest. She glanced around, thankful the damn thing wasn’t blinking. She walked out, ducking under the sign’s support structures until she reached the edge of the building.

The dry night air of the desert blew her hair back as she looked out at the glowing lights of the strip. It was a lot noisier on the roof than she’d expected. She’d never realized the backup generators that had been installed for the make-shift hospital were located on the roof, but she supposed they had to put them somewhere.

“Not thinking about jumping, are you?”

Emma whirled around, almost losing her balance and falling over the edge, and what a goddamn tragedy that would be. She grabbed her chest in surprise and thankfully caught her breath at the sight of the Queen. “Jesus fucking Christ.” She took a calming breath. “I should put a bell around your freaking neck.”

A perfectly sculpted eyebrow arched at the comment, but she said nothing, slinking closer until she too could see over the edge of the building. “I told you, you needed to leave.”

Emma gestured at their surroundings. “Looking for an exit. Don’t suppose you’ve seen a fire escape around here, have you?”

“There used to be one on the northwest corner.”

“Used to be?”

“It’s gone.”

“Fuck.”

The Queen faced her, her expression hard. “Take the passage in the corridor and exit out into the alley. Gold’s men don’t know you; they won’t stop you.”

Emma jumped past the fact that the Queen knew about the passage, too, because of course she did. “You know the Dark One well enough to call him by name?”

“I know a great many things about the Dark One,” she sneered, “including his relation to that worthless man you call a brother.”

The insult was harsher than usual but Emma was tired enough she didn’t bother arguing. “Well, if you know that, then you know why I can’t exit this place through the alley. His henchmen are down there and would surely recognize Neal.”

“Goddamn it, Savior.” She grabbed Emma roughly by the front of her jacket, pulling her close. “Take the diamonds and fucking leave this place _without_ your brother. _Now_.”

Emma knew the Queen was serious, beyond serious if the way her hands were wrapped in Emma’s jacket were any indication. But damn it all if Emma could think of anything beyond that gorgeous painted mouth being so close to hers. Her eyes dropped down to the scar above her lip that Emma happened to know had been given to the Queen by her own mother. Her hand came up of its own volition, stroked across the perfect cheek, and tucked a few errant strands of hair behind the older woman’s ear. The small inhalation that escaped the brunette was music to Emma’s ears.

She couldn’t say which one of them moved first or if it had simply been a mutual elimination of the space between them, but in the blink of an eye, their mouths were crashing together. The Queen’s hands were trapped between their bodies as Emma pulled her close. A whimper and a groan of ecstasy floated between them as their tongues dueled in the harsh meeting. For a moment, they could forget where they were and why they weren’t somewhere else together. A brief respite before an alarm sounded from the Queen’s bracelet and she pushed Emma away.

They were both breathing hard and Emma wiped at the corner of her mouth with her thumb. The Queen’s lipstick was smudged and she swore as she checked the source of the alarm. After a breath, the Queen looked up. “For once in your life, _listen_ to me. Leave. Before it’s too late.”

With that, the Queen spun on a stiletto heel and went through the door leading back down to the hotel. Emma looked around, feeling shocked, confused, and aroused. “What the hell?”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Snow had calibrated the machine to carefully remove the bullet that had lodged against Belle’s collarbone. She had given the patient a hefty dose of painkillers and was now setting the diagnostics to begin repairing the damage to the tissues. As she prepared the nanites, a strange buzzing sound filled the room. She turned in time to see Gold pull an old school cell phone from inside his vest. He glanced down at the screen then up at her.

“Excuse me, I have to take this.”

Snow nodded, surprised that he was willing to leave his beloved’s side, but she wasn’t about to question the man. It was surely none of her business. As soon as he left, she wrapped the band around Belle’s arm and began the administration of the nanites. She was surprised when the young woman groaned and her brow furrowed. Snow quickly scanned her. “Belle? Can you hear me?”

Crystal blue eyes bright with pain fluttered open. She blinked a few times then focused on the woman standing over her. “Snow?”

“Yeah, honey,” she said softly, running her hand gently over the girl’s forehead. She’d been coming with Gold to visit the Forest ever since she’d begun dating him. Snow had always considered her to be too kind and pure to be mixed up with their way of life, but Belle had always sworn she could see the good in the Dark One. “How do you feel?”

Belle’s face crumpled. “It hurts.” She shifted against the gurney, trying to adjust to the pain. “Oh, it really…what happened?”

“You were shot,” Snow said as she upped the pain medicine, “but I’m going to fix you up. Don’t worry.”

“Where’s Rumple?”

The girl’s nickname for her lover. “He’s right outside. He’s really worried for you, but you’re going to be fine.”

Belle nodded, her body relaxing as the pain meds began to kick in again. “He’s a good man,” she said. “He’s just done some bad things.”

Snow patted her hand, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. Now wasn’t really the time for her to once again question what the girl saw in the crime lord.

“Did he ever tell you…” Belle asked, her words slurring in and out. “I told him to tell you…”

“Tell me what, honey?” Snow asked absently as she calibrated her scanner.

“About him and Eva.”

A patient alarm pinged on the scanner just before it slipped out of Snow’s hand at the mention of her mother. It clattered against the floor but she hardly noticed, her attention focused sharply on Belle. “What did you just say?”

The younger woman smiled loopily at her, the powerful narcotics giving her eyes a glazed look. “You’ve got a twin brother.” Belle’s head lolled against the pillow. “Eva told Rumple...she was going to tell you.”

Snow staggered backwards, knocking over a tray of surgical instruments, until her back hit the counter. Her heart felt like it was going to pound out of her chest and she couldn’t breathe.

Belle was oblivious to the chaos her words were causing. “Did Rumple tell you…he’s your dad?”


	10. Beginning of the End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Friendly reminder to be aware of those warning tags!

Emma had waited a minute too long and by the time she tried to catch up to the Queen, the dark woman was gone. Emma hit the foot of the stairs and looked out into the corridor, but no one was in sight.

“Shit.” She ran a hand through her hair. She had a very bad feeling that the Queen knew something she didn’t. The killer brunette was usually all cryptic and mysterious, but on the roof she’d been downright blunt. Clearly, as far as the Queen was concerned, the Enchanted Forest was no longer safe and Emma needed to leave. “Shit!”

She hurried toward Neal’s room. It was time to go. She almost swallowed her tongue when she turned the corner and came within a few inches of running smack into the Dark One himself. He glared at her for a second before the voice on the phone he held to his ear regained his attention. It sounded like whoever the woman was on the other end of the line was not happy with him.

“Sorry,” Emma muttered, stepping to the side. He waved her off and she hurried past him.

“Now you listen to me, dearie. Whoever hurt Belle, will pay.”

Emma almost ran into the wall when she heard his hiss before she realized it wasn’t her he was addressing.

He scoffed then, a dry sounding laugh that sent shivers down Emma’s spine. “Oh, I’m sure you hoped _I_ was dead, but disappointment is just a part of life. That’s something we can agree on.”

Emma forced herself to keep moving, scrambling frantically for the door knob as soon as she was around the corner. She needed the safety of their room if only for a second. Whoever the Dark One was talking to, he was pissed. And apparently, he was supposed to be dead. But someone had hurt Belle instead? Was he at the Forest for medical care and not because he was looking for a thief who stole his diamonds? Could they possibly be that lucky?

“Hey, Neal…” She pulled the curtain back and found the bed empty. “Neal?” The sheets on the bed still had his blood stains on them. “Neal?!” She spun around on her heel, heart plummeting, eyes scanning the room, looking for a note or a clue, and then she saw him. “Neal!”

She rushed towards the corner of the room where he was half hidden in the shadows but stopped just short of his feet. He was slumped over, leaning awkwardly against the wall. A medical injector that had probably been filled with narcotics was on the floor next to his limp hand.

Emma crouched down near his feet and rubbed a hand over her face. “God damn it, Neal.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Snow rapped her hand against Belle’s face, trying to keep the younger woman awake. “Belle. Belle! Come on, Belle, stay with me! What did you say? You have to tell me what you just said.” Snow let go of the clearly unconscious woman and began scouring through the cabinets for something to wake her up with. Her hands had just closed around the small bottle of adrenalin when she heard the door to the room open and close; the soft tap of a cane on the floor preceded the man as he came around the curtain.

He took in the sight of his unconscious wife, scattered medical instruments and medicines, and a wide-eyed doctor staring at him as if she’d never seen him before. He glanced again at Belle, the readings on the screen beside her showed she was alive. “ _What_ is going on?” He pointed towards the unconscious woman. “Is she all right?”

Snow couldn’t speak; she just stared at him. None of it made any sense. It had to be the ramblings of a woman high on medication. Except…except the day her mother had died, Snow had missed an unexpected call from her. Her mother had left her a message saying there was something she needed to talk to her about.

The Dark One took a menacing step forwards, slamming his cane against the floor. “Doctor!”

Snow jumped, recovered herself enough to snap back at him. “What?”

Gold’s eyes narrowed at her unusual tone. She had never taken a tone with him that wasn’t polite and respectful. He tapped a finger against the cane then gestured towards Belle. “Is she going to be all right?”

“Yes.” She looked down at the bottle in her hand and set it back in the cabinet. “Yes, she’s going to be fine.”

“Good,” he said, still watching her closely. “And what about you, Doctor?”

“What about me?” she said, busying herself with straightening up the medicines she had carelessly tossed out of her way. She picked the scanner up from where she’d dropped it, absently noting that it had a patient death warning running across the screen. The Prince was dead. Medical care at the Enchanted Forest was going to hell in a hand-basket tonight. 

The ring on Gold’s finger tapped against the metal head of his cane. He glanced cautiously between Belle and the doctor. “You seem a bit…out of sorts,” he said. “Is everything all right?”

“Mm-hmm,” Snow managed, plastering on a fake smile. “I’m fine.”

He eyed her for another long minute then nodded and moved to Belle’s bed side. He leaned down and kissed her forehead. When he straightened, he caught Snow staring at him. His eyes narrowed and he looked again between the two women. He sighed. “She told you something, didn’t she?”

Snow wouldn’t have been able to say exactly what it was that she saw, but because she was watching him so closely she knew it when it happened. A darkness entered his eyes and a rigidity set into his muscles. And with just that little change in stance, Snow knew she was no longer dealing with the hospital’s benefactor or Belle’s husband; she was facing down the Dark One.

The corner of his mouth pulled upwards in a cruel smirk. “Well, dearie, is there something you want to ask me?”

Snow almost screamed when the lights chose that particular moment to go out.


	11. Wicked

“Aw, what the fuck?”

The Witch rolled her eyes as red emergency lighting powered on, bathing the common room in a hellish glow. “Even someone as idiotic as you must know that tonight is Devil’s Night.”

The Pirate twisted until he was looking at her over the back of the couch. “What are you talking about?”

“The bi-annual energy conservation?” She said getting to her feet. “For the next six hours, Sin City is on its own for power.”

He watched her move around the room. “Yeah, I know about that,” he said. “I’ve just never heard it called Devil’s Night before.”

“Oh.” She shrugged. “That’s how the police refer to it.”

“And how would you know that?”

She sat down on the arm of the couch, near his feet. “My daughter is a cop.”

The Pirate barked out a short burst of laughter. “Oh, that’s rich.” He shook his head. “The entire police force in this city is bought and paid for by somebody.”

“Actually, she’s one of the good ones,” the Witch said, rolling a pen she had picked up over her knuckles. “Oh, she turns a blind eye to family business when she has to, but mostly, we keep our work out of her city.”

“We?”

She shrugged. “My sister is in the business, too.”

“And what business is that, exactly?”

“Mmmm.”

He considered her non-answer and eyed her as best he could in the dim lighting. He cleared his throat when she eyed him back. “You’d think, with as much money as we pay this place, they’d spring for some generators.”

“I’m sure Charming is working on the problem,” she said, then asked, “Are you afraid of the dark?”

He scoffed. “Hardly.” He watched the pen as it tumbled over her fingers. “In fact, I’m sure we could find ways to pass the time quite easily.”

“You know, I was thinking the _same_ thing.” She snapped the pen up between her thumb and forefinger. “But. I have to ask you a question first.”

The Pirate licked his lips. “You can ask me anything, love.”

“The girl you were with tonight-”

“You mean the bitch that attacked me?”

Her eyes narrowed at the corners. “Yes. Her.”

“What about her?” The hardness in his tone crept out again, displacing the affected playful tone he usually tried to keep.

“Oh, I was just wondering how she came to be in your company?” She leaned back against the end of the couch.

His gaze roved over her reclined form for a moment before he mirrored her and settled further back against the cushions. “I met her at a club.” He shrugged. “I invited her to join us; she accepted.”

She turned so she was facing him, one elbow propped on the back of the couch. “Then what?”

“We partied,” he said flatly. “What’s it to you?”

“Clearly, the party went wrong somewhere,” she said and gestured at his missing hand.

“The bitch was draped all over me as long as it kept snowing and the drinks were flowing. Then I told her it was time for her to pay for her part of the party; she knew what I meant. Her hand went straight to my fly, but I’m not a fucking animal to get a hand job under the table.” His lip curled back in a snarl. “I took her out to the car and that’s when she went apeshit.”

“Wow.” The Witch looked away from him, blinking for a moment at the darkened tv screen. “I think the only part of that entire story that was true was that you met her in a club.”

He frowned. “Wha-?”

He never finished the word, choking as the pen that had been in her hand was suddenly embedded in his neck. His hand immediately reached for his neck, but the Witch had already leapt forward, straddling him on the couch, yanking the pen out so that blood spurted from the wound. She grabbed his good hand and pinned it beneath her knee. When he tried to buck her off, she twisted and slammed an elbow down against his crotch. He groaned and writhed until she held up a glowing red laser scalpel in front of his face. “Try to kick me again and I’ll cut it off. Nod if you understand.”

His eyes were still watering in pain but he quickly nodded; she grinned. “Now let me tell you a different version of that story you just spun. You see, the version I heard was that a girl was there with her girlfriend, and that they both turned you down several times.” She moved the fiery looking blade to his neck. “But you wouldn’t take no for an answer. You had your friends hold her girlfriend back and drag _her_ out to your car, where _you_ tried to rape her.”

He tried to shake his head no and managed to nick himself on the blade at his neck. He groaned as she let it stay there, burning his flesh, until he yelled out. She leaned closer, her eyes boring into his, as she hissed, “But I raised my daughter to be able to fight off creeps like you. As soon as it wasn’t three against one, she got the better of you.” She let the blade drop against his skin again, earning another yell. “Fortunately, for her, she doesn’t know who you are. She optimistically believes that she got away, and that it’s over. But I knew if you were anyone at all, after the beating she gave you, that you’d be here, seeking treatment.” She dipped the blade again against his flesh. “And then you’d be back out there, looking for her. Lucky for me, I was already planning to be here tonight. I knew I could meet you, and my daughter, as well as any other girl out there, would never have to worry about seeing you ever again.”

“This hotel has rules, bitch,” he ground out. “You can’t…do this.”

Her smile widened. “Unfortunately for you, all the rules are getting broken tonight, dear.”

The scalpel cut through his throat like a knife through butter, silencing the Pirate in a splash of warm blood.


	12. Sins of the Parents

Snow managed to not scream when the lights went out, but when the red emergency lights flickered on she yelped. The Queen was standing less than a foot away from her, appearing silently during the moment of darkness when the generator hadn’t kicked on. The Dark One seemed less surprised by her sudden appearance, his chin coming up with a dangerous grin marring his features.

“Well. Isn’t this just a lovely family reunion?”

The Queen’s dark eyes flicked towards Snow for the briefest glance then over Belle’s unconscious form.

Gold’s hateful gaze watched her closely, he snarled in realization, “You’re the one that shot Belle.”

“Yes,” she said, coldly. She felt Snow shift beside her in surprise but she kept her focus on the man in front of her.

“Do you have any idea the hell I will bring down upon you for this? I don’t care who your mother is.” He stabbed a finger at her. “Everyone knows that Belle is not part of the business.”

“I did what I had to.” The Queen shrugged. “You’re a hard man to get alone.”

His eyes narrowed as he began to think through his circumstances, the events of the evening to get him to this point. He was reluctantly impressed. “You really wanted this little chat, didn’t you?” Her mouth twisted into a dark smirk. He reclasped his hands over his cane. “Well, dearie, what’s on your mind?”

“I was hired to kill you,” she said simply, revealing a scalpel in her palm. “I’ve wanted to do it for years, but if Mother taught me anything, it was never do something for free when you can get paid for it.”

“Your mother is a piece of work,” he said, a reflexive comment whenever thoughts of that woman came up.

“You would know.”

He shrugged. “I guess it’s no big surprise you turned out the way you did after being raised by her.”

“As if I would’ve been any different growing up under your roof.”

“Wait, what?!” Neither predator even bothered looking in Snow’s direction at her outburst. “No. No, no, no, just…wait a second.” She gestured wildly between the two of them. “Are you two…are you…related?”

The Dark One chuckled. “Yes, this ungrateful spawn is my daughter.” He pointed a long finger at Snow. “Which, I guess, would make the two of you…half-sisters.”

The Queen flinched, gaze straying towards Snow for a split second as the doctor gasped. Gold slid one hand into his hip pocket before furious dark eyes landed back on him.

“Explain,” the Queen demanded.

“What do you need to know?” he asked, enjoying himself. “The same way I fucked your mother and got her pregnant with you, I did the same to the doctor’s mother.”

“No,” Snow whimpered.

He laughed. “It was hardly a one-night affair for either of them. They both kept coming back to me begging for more.” He pinned Snow with a pitying look. “At least, Cora wasn’t married at the time.”  

Snow sagged back against the counter, shaking her head in denial. The Queen’s lip pulled back in a snarl. “That’s enough, Gold.”

“I don’t think it is,” he said cheerfully. “I mean she might as well hear the whole story now.”

“Please,” Snow said, straightening. “I need…to know.” She took a step forward, taking a deep breath. “Belle said I had…a brother. That we were…twins?”

The muscle in the Queen’s jaw clenched, her grip tightening on the scalpel she wanted to shove deep into the Dark One’s throat. If Snow had a twin brother, that meant she had a half-brother. _Another_ half-brother…unless the two were one in the same. She growled low in her throat. “Speak, Imp.”

He drummed his fingers against the top of his cane. “Yes,” he admitted reluctantly. “When Eva found out she was pregnant with twins and that one of them was a boy, I told her to get rid of them. A baby girl she could pass off as her husband’s, but a boy would never resemble that idiot she was married to.”

“Why would you care?” Snow asked. “What was my father to you?”

The Queen cringed internally at Snow’s naivety and knew Gold would relish in it. She spoke up before he could. “Leo Blanchard was the head of the Las Vegas Syndicate before Gold usurped him.”

Snow saw Gold smirk at the Queen even as she denied what they were telling her. “No, my father was a good man.”

“No,” the Queen said simply, “he was not.” Not even counting his organized crime, she’d seen the way the man maneuvered himself to be alone with young girls at parties. He’d tried it with her once. Cora had burst into the room and threatened to rip his balls off. It might have been the most maternal thing her mother had ever done for her.   

Snow looked to Gold. He shrugged. “Good man or not, at the time, he was my boss. It wouldn’t have gone over well for him to find out I was ploughing his wife.” He bared his teeth. “One of many reasons I later took a knife to his throat.”

The Queen grit her teeth at his deliberate provocation, but they were both taken by surprise when Snow rushed forward and slapped him. The usually calm doctor grabbed the Dark One by his lapels and shook him. “You bastard!” She hit him again. “You killed her, too, didn’t you? Didn’t you!”

“That’s right, dearie,” he snarled, letting go of his cane and gripping her back. “And now,” he used her distraction to his advantage, “I’m going to kill your sister.” He pulled his hand from his hip pocket and fired a small two shot pistol straight at the Queen.

Snow screamed as the Queen caught the shot right in her gut and staggered backwards, falling into the shadows near the door. Then the small pistol was jammed under Snow’s chin, the barrel still hot as the Dark One pressed it against her skin.

“Your bitch of a mother almost got me killed,” he hissed, walking Snow backwards. “She hid from me. And then later, after I’d killed Leo, she hid my children from me.” The back of Snow’s legs hit Belle’s bed. “It took years, but once I found her, I found you. You were still in medical school at the time, but I allowed her back in my bed to spare your life. My son, she said, had died at birth.” He dug the pistol harder into her jaw. “She lied to me. She couldn’t part with her precious baby girl, but my son,” he hissed, “she put him up for adoption. Cast him away to some godforsaken foster home.”

Tears streaked down Snow’s face as she shook. “I didn’t know. I didn’t know; she never told me.”

“Oh, I know,” he said and used the hand that wasn’t holding the gun to gently caress her face. “But she was going to tell you. You see, she finally found him, and she told him everything.” His grip tightened on her chin. “And he rejected me. His own father because of the lies that bitch told him. And she was going to tell you, too, but I found her first.”

“And then you found me,” Snow said, collapsing against his hold and the bed, “and you brought me here.”

“It was a pleasure destroying your pure innocent heart, knowing your mother would hate what you’ve become.” He dragged the point of the gun down to her chest, angled it straight at her heart. “And now I’m going to send you to meet your mother.”

“The fuck you are!” The Queen roared, attacking him from behind, arm reaching over his shoulder as she dragged the laser bladed scalpel across his throat. The Dark One gagged as hot blood spilled from his neck, and in his last moments he pulled the trigger.


	13. Healthcare Professional

Emma barely blinked when the lights went out. She just closed her eyes and waited, trying to determine what her next move was. What the fuck did she care about the dark? Neal would still be dead when the lights came back on. Then she could see a red glow beyond her closed lids and opened her eyes to the emergency lighting of the hotel. “Motherfucker,” she swore and slowly stood, painfully shaking her legs out. How long had she been kneeling there?

She stared down at her brother’s body. He may have been a shitbag, but he'd been the only real family she'd ever had. And now... Should she cover him up? Move him? She wouldn’t be able to lift his heavy ass. Honestly, she was fucking pissed off enough at him to just leave him where he was. And god damn it, now she’d have to buy a new suit for him to be buried in. She almost kicked him for that. Almost. But settled instead for ripping the sheet off the bed and throwing it over him. She pulled him away from the wall so he was lying completely down. She’d have to wait for Charming’s help to move him further. She assumed the Hotel had contacts and ways of properly dealing with corpses that wouldn’t ask too many questions.

After she finished arranging Neal, she heard yelling outside her room. Yelling was never good. She grabbed her jacket, swore again at seeing the bullet holes ripped through the back of it, threw it on anyway, and headed out to the corridor. Once she was in the hall, she could tell that the voice that was yelling was Gideon. “What the fuck is his problem now?” she muttered.

“Maybe he’s scared of the dark,” a richly accented voice said from beside her, making Emma jump and reach instinctively for the gun she was usually carrying.

“Jesus!”

A wide mouth of teeth shown in the dim lighting as the Witch laughed. “Not quite, dear.”

It was a little difficult to tell in the headache-inducing red light, but Emma spotted a few fresh-looking, dark stains on the red-head’s outfit. The Witch was also drying off her hands on a stained towel and coming from the direction of the common room. Emma cleared her throat. “You look like you’ve been having uh…an interesting night.”

“Interesting is a good enough word for it I suppose.” The Witch stopped walking and Emma stopped with her. They could hear Gideon yelling for someone to come talk to him but neither of them had any desire to be the one.  

“Do I have to worry about the Pirate coming after me for lifting his wallet?”

“Nope.” Her lips popped the ‘p’.

Emma couldn’t say she was surprised or bothered by his demise. Still, it was a drastic measure for offering sleazy pick-up lines. “What’d he do?”

The Witch’s expression darkened reminding Emma just how dangerous she really was. “Earlier tonight, he tried to sexually assault my daughter.”

“Shit,” Emma swore. “Is Robin all right?” The Witch glared at her in exasperation. Emma winced, “Sorry.” There were a lot of things Emma was supposed to pretend she didn’t know, especially when they were in mixed company.

The red-head just shook her head. “She’s fine; a little shaken up, but she’ll be fine.”

“Good,” Emma said and meant it. She'd only met the young woman once but she'd been a bright spirit. She bit her lip for a moment before voicing a concern. “Snow won’t like it,” she said, “offing the Pirate here at the hotel.”

The Witch shrugged and tossed down the stained towel. “Don’t think it’s going to matter much after tonight.”

Emma frowned. “Why’s that?”

“The less you know the better, Savior,” she said. “Where’s that no-good brother of yours?”

The abrupt change of subject hit Emma square between the eyes when she wasn’t ready for it. She swallowed, looked away. “Didn’t make it.”

“Oh,” the Witch said, blinking. “I’m…sorry to hear that.”

The blonde scoffed. “No, you’re not.”

“No, I’m not,” she admitted. Then offered, “I’m sorry for your loss, truly.”

Emma gauged her sincerity and gave a short nod. She’d only ever wanted to take care of her brother; she couldn’t complain if the Witch felt protective about her sibling as well. Movement caught her eye and she jerked her chin towards the end of the hall. Charming was emerging from the shadows, walking towards them like a man on a warpath.

“What’s wrong, Shepherd?” the Witch asked, her usual snark returning. “Lost your lamb?”

Emma controlled her smirk. She’d known that’s what the sisters called Charming because of the way he followed Snow around; she hadn’t known they actually called him that to his face.

He glared at the redhead. “Someone sabotaged the damn generators.” His eyes narrowed as he too spotted the blood stains on the Witch’s clothing. “You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”

The Witch spread her hands out innocently. “Nope, I’ve never even been up to the roof.”

Emma’s eyes widened as she realized she knew who had been up on the roof. Charming didn’t seem to believe the Witch either as he moved into her space. “Just because you weren’t up there doesn’t mean you don’t know anything about it,” he said. “What the hell is going on here tonight?”

As though he’d opened the door to invite more problems, they all heard the heavy crunching sound of metal striking metal. Charming growled and stalked towards the foyer and the gate. Emma and the Witch exchanged a glance and followed after him.

“It’s about fucking time!” Gideon yelled as soon as Charming was in sight. A man at his side was holding a long-handled sledge hammer. “What the fuck is going on?”

Charming stood feet shoulder-width apart, arms crossed over his chest. “There’s a power outage.”

“I noticed,” Gideon snarled. When Charming didn’t offer anything more, he snapped, “I want to see my father.”

Charming smirked. “Visiting hours are never.”

Gideon sneered and gestured at the man with the sledge hammer. “Open the fucking gate or my friend with the key here will open it for you.”

Charming took two steps towards the gate. “I’m a healthcare professional,” he said, “and we have rules here-”

A distinct popping sound cut off whatever else Charming had been about to say. Emma and the Witch looked at each other and took a step back. That had been a gunshot, but it had been so unexpected they searched in opposite directions for its source.

“What the fuck was that?” Gideon asked. Several of his men stepped closer to the gate.

“Not what you think,” Charming tried. “Weapons aren’t allowed in the Forest as you well know.”

“Weapons might not be allowed past the gate,” Gideon said and reached into his jacket. He pulled out the pistol his father had given him to hold onto. Two men on each side of him did the same. They all aimed the weapons through the bars on the gate. “But we have plenty out here.”

“Fuck,” Emma breathed. Three guns were pointed at Charming, one at her and one at the Witch. She gauged the distance between her and the edge of the corridor that she’d be able to duck behind.

“Now open the fucking gate, Charming,” Gideon said, cocking the pistol. “Last chance.”

A second gunshot sounded and Emma could tell it came from one of the rooms to her left. The Witch was closer and looked ready to bolt. Emma had planned on diving for cover to her right-

The radio mike that rested on Charming’s shoulder came to life. A rough female voice came across it. “Charming.” It was the Queen. “Snow needs you. Come to _his_ room. Now.”

For a split second, no one moved, no one breathed. Then the Witch swore and bolted to her left. Emma dove after her as gunfire erupted.


	14. Sacrifice

“Fuck!” Emma shouted as she fell just short of the corner wall and had to scramble the last two feet.

“Savior!” the Witch grabbed at her, pulling her the rest of the way into the shadows and out of the line of fire. “Bloody hell!”

Emma groaned and rolled onto her back. “They shot…Charming.” Then she shouted, “You assholes!”

“Oh God, Savior…” the Witch’s voice trailed off and Emma looked down. It was odd how until that moment she hadn’t actually connected the dots in her mind that the burning pain in her side was because of a bullet.

“Oh, you mother-fuckers!” Emma swore as she clamped a hand over the wound.

Gideon yelled back. “One of you bitches come open this gods damned gate and I’ll spare your lives.”

“Fuck off, Gideon!” Emma yelled back. “You fucking cock sucker.”

The Dark One’s son laughed. “We’re coming in one way or another, and we’re going to kill you when we find you.”

The heavy sledge hammer slammed again into the gate, metal screeching as it impacted. The Witch scrambled up to her knees, “Come on, get up, we’ve got to move.” She pulled Emma up as she stood, shouldering the blonde’s weight and ignoring her groan. “We’ve got to find, Queenie.”

Emma got her feet under her. “Second door down. That’s where I saw them.”

The Witch started for the door. “Why aren’t you wearing your Kevlar?”

“I am,” Emma grunted, “but I was also pulling a Pete Rose at the time!”

“Who the bloody hell is Pete Rose?” the Witch asked as she kicked open the door. The room seemed even darker than the corridor and the redhead had to rip a curtain out of their way. “Queenie?”

Emma dropped off the Witch’s shoulder, eyes roving over the room as she fought to stay upright. The first person she saw was Belle, asleep on the medical bed that had been pushed further to the side of the room than normal. Then she saw the cluster of bodies on the floor beside the bed. Her breath caught in her throat as the Witch rushed forward.

The Dark One was dead; his neck was completely dark in the red lighting and he laid in a disturbingly large puddle of more darkness. Then she saw shoes, two stiletto heels and two comfy soled work shoes. The Queen was slumped against the wall, cradling Snow against her chest with both arms wrapped around the smaller woman. Emma’s eyes widened at the dark stain covering the front of Snow’s shirt. “What the fuck?”

The Witch knelt down beside her sister. Her hand shook (though she'd deny it) slightly as it reached out and checked for a pulse at the side of Snow’s neck. The Queen slowly raised her head. There was a splash of blood against her neck and her once perfect makeup was marred with a single streak down her cheek. But her eyes were dry as she glanced over Emma, before turning towards the Witch. “I killed him. _Finally_.”

“Yeah, I can see that. What the hell else happened?” the Witch asked, trying to check over her sister as much as possible. “We heard gunshots.”

The Queen gestured over the top of Snow’s head towards the deceased Dark One. “Bastard smuggled a gun in. Killed Snow before I could stop him.”

“We heard two shots,” Emma said, limping forward.

She eyed the blonde and sighed, “I told you to leave.”

"Yeah, well..."

She blinked slowly, her eyes staying closed longer than usual. "Charming?"

"He didn't make it," the Witch answered. The pounding noises from outside the room were getting louder. If Gideon’s men didn’t get through the gate, they were coming through the walls. Emma and the Witch exchanged a look.

“We’ve got to go," Emma said. "Now."

“Yep,” the Witch agreed. “Help me move Snow.”

Emma grunted as she leaned down to grasp Snow’s feet. The Witch moved around to get the doctor by the shoulders.

“She was my sister,” the Queen said, dropping a kiss to Snow’s head.

The Witch almost dropped her. “What?”

The brunette leveled her red-headed sister with a dark gaze. “Cora wasn’t the only one that slept with the Dark One.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” the Witch swore and moved Snow off the Queen.

Emma swore when she saw how much blood stained the Queen. Her entire front was soaked. “Is any of that yours?”

She ignored the question and stuck out her hand. “Help me up.”

Her sister grabbed her under the arm and pulled her up. The Queen wasn’t quite able to suppress a groan. “Oh fuck, not you, too!” the redhead swore. “Are you hit?” She pressed a hand against the Queen’s abdomen making her suck in a hissing breath. “What the fuck is wrong with you two? You’re both wearing protection and you still manage to get fucking shot!”

Emma looked sheepish; the Queen rolled her eyes. “Let’s worry about that later and just get out of Dodge now.”

“Fine. Savior, help her.” She handed the brunette off to Emma and both women grunted as wounds stretched and moved. The Witch threw open the cabinets that Snow had been ransacking and picked up every bladed instrument she could find.

“What about Belle?” Emma asked as she and the Queen limped towards the door.

“She’ll be fine,” the brunette said. “She’s the safest one in this hell hole.”

“Head for the passage behind the wall that leads down to the alley.”

A loud wrenching of metal sounded behind them as they moved slowly down the hall. The Witch hit the switch and slammed open the hidden entrance. She pushed the two wounded women through. “When you get down to street level, go right and you can exit out through the casino doors instead of into the alley.”

She started to shut the door between them. “Zelena!” The Queen wrenched herself out of Emma’s grasp, throwing herself at the Witch. “What the hell are you doing?”

“This is what I do,” she said simply. “Neither of you could fight your way out of paper bag right now.” She looked over her sister’s head at the blonde. “Take care of her, Savior.”

The Queen stumbled backwards as Zelena pushed her off and into Emma’s arms. They heard the Witch cackle as the wall shut between them.


	15. It All Falls Down

Emma was wide-eyed and slack jawed. It was the most self-sacrificing thing she’d ever seen, and she would have never guessed in a million years that Zelena would’ve been the one to do it.

“If she survives,” the Queen growled, “I’m going to kill her.”

Emma nodded then regathered her grip on the brunette and turned to head down the passage. The passage barely had any light at all but at least it wasn’t red. “Did you really have to knock out the generators?”

“Seemed like a good idea…when I planned it.”

The pained reply made Emma look down at the smaller woman. Zel hadn’t been wrong in her assessment; they were in bad shape. “So, that’s why you were here. To kill Gold?”

“Yes,” she said. She hesitated but they were long past keeping secrets at this point. “He killed my fiancé by forcing his car off the side of a road and over a cliff.”

“What?!”

“He claimed to Cora that he didn’t know my son was also in the car.”

“Holy fuck.” Emma blinked. “I didn’t…know?”

“Very few did,” the Queen said as they stumbled into the elevator. “It was before I met you.”

“Why did he-?”

“Daniel was a cop,” she said simply.

Emma frowned as she mashed a button. “But Robin is a cop, too.”

The Queen smirked. “Why do you think Z agreed to help me tonight?”

When the elevator jolted and began to descend, Emma’s leg buckled briefly under their combined weight. The Queen stiffened, helping her back to upright. “Okay, so what was all that shit about you and Snow being sisters?”

When they reached the ground floor, the Queen pointed to the right. They moved through cobwebbed shadows and emerged onto the main floor of the old casino. It was mostly empty except for a few random chairs and a dusty roulette table. “Gold is, _was_ our father. Snow just found out.”

Emma slumped against the roulette table, slipping the Queen’s arm from around her so she could use the table for support too. “I have to rest…just for a second.” The brunette didn’t argue, blinking back her pain as well. “So, wait,” Emma was leaned over her elbows, breathing hard, “did you already know Gold was your dad?”

“Yes.” She had her back to the table, leaning on her elbows. “I didn’t know about Snow until tonight though.”

Emma stared at the faded red and black checkered table. “If Gold was your dad, that means you and Neal…”

“Yes, I _know_ ,” the Queen grunted. “Why do you think I hated that he was such a waste of talent?”

Emma couldn’t help it; she laughed. “Honestly? I thought you hated him because of me.”

Dark eyes found green and held them. “I did.”

“Oh.”

“Is he dead?”

Emma nodded. “Yeah.”

“Losing three siblings in one night. It must be some sort of record,” the Queen muttered then pushed herself away from the table. “Come on.”

Emma pushed herself up, swaying slightly and blinking through spots in her vision. She felt the Queen settle under her arm and they both staggered towards the front doors. When they were only a few feet away, shadows moved on the other side of it. The doors shook as someone from outside pulled on them, rattling the chains locking it.  

“Shit,” Emma swore as they held perfectly still, listening to the voices outside the door.

“Lock it down! No one leaves!”

“The bitch that killed the Dark One is still in there somewhere.”

“Fuck.” The Queen spun them around and started back the way they came. They were too exposed on the game floor, too much open space, nowhere to hide. She stumbled and barely managed to keep them both upright.

Emma gave her head a hard shake and tried to take some of her weight off the brunette. She was getting really lightheaded. “Where?”

“The alley,” the Queen grunted as they slumped against another wall. She saw a streak of blood they left on it as she pushed them forward.

“They’ve got cars there,” Emma argued.

“It’s dark,” the brunette argued back. “We might be able to-”

“Regina.” Emma tugged on her hand. “Just stop.”

Her head snapped around at the use of her name. The blonde gave her a sad, loopy smile as she leaned against the wall. “Emma?”

The blonde jerked her chin, indicating for the Queen to look behind her. Regina saw Gideon, flanked by two men, walking straight towards them. She turned back in time to see Emma slide down the wall and sit on the filthy, rotting carpet.

Emma patted the spot beside her. “Join me, Queenie?”

“Don’t call me that,” she said as she limped over and dropped to her knees. She groaned as she sat back and settled against Emma’s side. “Oh, that does feel better.”

Emma arched an eyebrow. “Me?”

“Not moving.”

“Yep.” She managed to put an arm over Regina’s shoulders and kissed the top of her head.

“This was supposed to be my last job,” Regina admitted quietly.

Emma laughed. “Me too.”

“Oh, don’t worry,” Gideon said, appearing in front of them, “it will be.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“Oh, hey Gideon,” Emma said, looking up at him. “How’s it hanging?”

He glared at her then shifted his gaze to Regina. “I should’ve known it was you.”

She let her head drop back against the wall. “Who else?”

“Oh hell,” Emma swore, “he’s your brother, too, isn’t he? How many half-siblings do you have?”

Regina arched an eyebrow at her. “After tonight?”

Emma winced. “Oh. Right.” She looked back up at Gideon. “You know, if you think about it, she kind of did you a favor.”

Gideon aimed his father's pistol at Emma’s chest. “Be careful what you say next, Savior. That bitch killed my father.”

Emma held up a hand. “But now, you’re the boss, right?”

He cocked the pistol.

“Okay, hold up, wait, wait, just…hold on for a second, okay.” She started to reach behind her and both the goons focused on her. “I’ve got something in my pocket that I think you’ll be interested in. Just going to reach back, real slow like, and get it.”

“Emma,” Regina growled her name in warning.

“No, no this is going to be good,” she said, wincing as she pulled out the contents of her back pocket. “Sorry, got shot in the ass earlier tonight. Still a little tender back there.” Then she held up the mini-vault pen. “Do you know what this is?”

Gideon frowned. “No.”

“Honestly, I didn’t either at first,” Emma admitted. “But it’s about eighteen million dollars’ worth of diamonds.” One of the goons scoffed. “No, really it is.”

Gideon glanced at Regina then back to Emma. “And?”

“And, I think it’s a fair price to spare our lives.” 

Gideon smirked. “You’re suggesting you give me the diamonds to spare your lives.”

“Yes.” Emma gave him her best smile.

He raised his gun again. “What’s to stop me from killing you and simply taking the diamonds?”

Emma felt Regina sigh against her neck. She dropped her hand back to her lap. “Uh, well.” She planted her hand on the floor and tried to shift her weight slightly. “Fair point.” She nodded. “I see what you did there.”

The two goons snickered and Gideon chuckled with them. “Anything else? What about you, sis? Last requests?”

“Wait,” Emma said, cutting a scathing retort from Regina off before she could voice it. She held up the Ace of Spades playing card she had also slipped from her pocket. “I do have one more thing, actually.”

“You’re becoming boring, Savior,” Gideon said, rolling his eyes.

She smirked, snapped the card in half and pressed the two halves against each other.

“What is that?” he asked.

“Just a directional anti-personnel mine, courtesy of Hook, Line, and Sinker,” she said with a smile and tossed the card so it landed in between Gideon’s shoes.

The resulting explosion was deafening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you like a darker hue story with an ambiguous tint, you should consider this your end of the story. It was actually my original ending.  
> If you'd prefer a more HEA kind of ending, check out the epilogue tomorrow morning. 
> 
> And as always, thanks for reading!


	16. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I updated yesterday, I never saw this move up on the AO3 page so please make sure you've read the previous chapter before diving into this one. 
> 
> Oh look, here's that dash of MadArcher I promised.

12 Months Later

The young police officer stood on the corner, watching as the construction equipment bulldozed and razed the old hotel to the ground. The Enchanted Forest, an iconic relic of the strip had become an abandoned property that had served as some sort of final battle ground for gang warfare. At least, that’s what the news reels had reported.

Over a dozen bodies had been found on the first and uppermost floor of the old hotel, including Las Vegas’ reigning crime lord, Robert Gold and his son, Gideon Gold. A single female had survived on the top floor; she had been found in what had appeared to be a secret medical facility of some sort. She’d been severely drugged at the time of her recovery and had been taken to the local hospital for surgery to repair a gunshot wound to her shoulder.

After all the bodies had been removed, the structure had been deemed unsafe due to some sort of explosion that had taken place on the bottom floor. Reporters' requests to go inside and take photos in this so-called hospital for criminals had been denied due to unsafe conditions. The police chief had denied that any sort of safe haven for criminals had existed. He’d attempted to spin a story that the old hotel had been nothing but a drug den that had gotten hold of a bad batch of pharmaceuticals.

A gangland shootout. A secret hospital. A drug den. Secret weapons lab. The myths surrounding The Enchanted Forest Hotel had carried the news for almost an entire week. It had been a slow news cycle. Luckily, another politician had soon been caught using campaign finances to fund their Sin City getaway and taxpayers never did like it when their money went towards prostitutes and gambling. And now, a year later, the old building was finally coming down.

“Hey! I knew I’d find you here!”

The young officer turned and smiled at the blonde girl approaching her. She gave her a quick kiss hello and took her hand in her own before turning back to the demolition. “I haven’t been here long.”

“I know,” the blonde said, grinning. “You’ve only been off work twenty minutes. You haven’t had time to get into any proper trouble.”

“Now you know that isn’t true,” she argued, “especially now that you’re here.”

There was a loud crunching sound as the bulldozer scraped up the toppled neon sign and loaded it into the back of a waiting dump truck. A load of concrete blocks was dropped in on top of the sign effectively burying it.

The blonde flinched a little. “Come on, Robin,” she tugged on the officer’s hand, “let’s go.” She brightened as the officer allowed herself to be led away. “Your vacation started twenty minutes ago and you’re still in your uniform. That’s just not right.”

Robin pulled the blonde closer and draped her arm over her shoulders as they walked towards home. “Have you heard anything from my mother?”

“Oh! Yeah!” She said excitedly practically bouncing as she swung their hands. “She called and said not to tell you-” the blonde’s jaw snapped shut abruptly. “Right. Never mind about that.”

“Alice?” Robin questioned, immediately suspicious. “What did my mother tell you?”

“Whot?” Alice tried, her accent sounding a bit stronger when she was nervous. “Nothing. Not a thing.”

“Alice.” Robin stopped, dragging her fiancé to a stop as well. “Tell me.”

“Oy, no fair using your bluebottle voice on me.”

“I’ll use whatever works.” She crossed her arms. “Now what did my mother say?”

Alice heaved an exaggerated sigh. “Alright, fine. Fine. She’s going to kill me, you know. And then, where will you be? Hmm?”

Robin waited, raising her eyebrows above the rim of her glasses.

“Your aunt called,” Alice admitted finally. “She’s sending the jet to pick us all up and bring us to the resort. That’s where we’re spending your vacation.”

Robin tried to hide her complete excitement and if it had been anyone besides Alice she probably would have managed it. “Yes! Oh my God, yes!” She wrapped Alice in a hug and whirled her around. “Oh, I can’t wait now! The beaches! The sun!”

“You don’t have enough sand and sun here?” Alice asked as they began walking again towards the apartment they shared.

“Totally different down there,” Robin said excited. “Just you wait and see. You’re going to love it!”

Alice shrugged. She was happy to be going anywhere with Robin. Didn’t really matter where. Once they were inside, she plopped down on the couch and took out her phone while Robin got her things together. She read over her new text messages. “Robin?”

“Yeah?”

“What does a beach manager do?”

Robin came out of their room still folding a beach towel. “Why do you ask?” Alice held up her phone in answer. “Who are you texting with?”

“Your aunt,” she said.

“Regina is texting?” Robin asked in complete disbelief. Regina did not text. On the rare occasion that she did, everything was properly punctuated and capitalized.

“No, no, your other aunt,” Alice said, reading the next message. “She says they also need someone to run security for the resort if I know anyone with law enforcement experience.”  

“Emma is offering you a job?” Robin said, dropping onto the couch beside Alice and reading over the messages herself.

“And you, apparently.”

Robin frowned slightly then scrolled back up to earlier in the conversation. “Mom is their new accounts manager?” she asked. Alice shrugged. “Why am I the last to know these things?” She began typing out a response.

Alice looked over her shoulder. “If you respond like that, they’re going to know it’s not me.”

“What do you mean?”

“We talk differently.”

“It’s a text message,” Robin argued.

But, sure enough, as soon as the three dots disappeared Emma’s response said *hi robin* Then a second message, *Robin, please do not worry about anything. We will discuss everything when you arrive.*

“Now see, that’s Regina texting,” Alice pointed out. “She probably took the phone from Emma just like someone took the phone from me.”

Robin looked at her and couldn’t help grinning at the blue eyes shining back at her. She handed over the phone. “Fine, let them know we’ll be there soon.” She walked back towards the room. “I need to finish packing.”

As she folded shirts and shorts, grabbed her swimsuit and sandals, Robin thought about the resort. Her aunts were still getting it up and running, but she knew it was going to be a very exclusive series of cabanas along a private stretch of beach. She also knew that they weren’t doing it for the money; they had plenty of that. As she closed up her suitcase, she wondered what they would call a hotel on a private island that was run by a former thief and two ex-assassins.

“Oh! Hey, Robin! Robin!” Alice yelled excitedly from the living room. “Emma said they’re considering the name I gave them for the hotel.”

Robin dragged her suitcase into the living room. “Name?”

“Yeah,” she said, “they didn’t want to call it The Enchanted Forest 2 or anything like that, so I suggested an alternative.”

“What did you suggest?”

Alice grinned.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To everyone still with me, thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed it!


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